


Once More Unto the Breach

by LadyWallace



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Apologies, Cas Whump, Dean gets over some emotional constipation, Dean to the Rescue, Episode Tag, Episode: s15e10 The Trap, Gen, Hurt Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, Purgatory, Season 15, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22330510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyWallace/pseuds/LadyWallace
Summary: Tag to 15x10 "The Trap" Sometimes Dean really wished Cas wasn't such a self-sacrificing idiot. But then, he hadn't really given him a reason to be anything else. Slight AU, Extra Whump, No Slash
Relationships: Castiel & Dean Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	Once More Unto the Breach

**Author's Note:**

> Had to write a tag to the latest episode (15x10 "The Trap") because, I mean, you can't tease Cas getting dragged off to Eve and not give me whump lol. And there was a couple other things I would have done differently of course, so here's my AU version of Dean and Cas' trip to Purgatory, enjoy ;)
> 
> Some lines taken from the episode.

"Right this way, just like I promised.

Castiel and Dean followed the leviathan out of the woods to a clearing where old corpses littered the ground. And among them were several huge, vulgar looking fungus like plants with red, tongues sticking up out of them.

"Leviathan blossom," Castiel commented, shaking his head in awe. So it really did exist.

"Alright, well, grab one, let's get the hell out of here," Dean said, eyeing their guide warily, holding his shotgun at the ready.

Castiel stepped forward to do just that, only to feel a slight concussion of air around him, like his breath was being taken away. Except instead of his breath, it was his abilities. His grace had been muzzled. And on top of that, he couldn't move another step, his feet frozen to the ground.

"Cas?" Dean demanded, seeing something was wrong.

"It's an angel trap!" Castiel spat out angrily, seeing the etchings of a huge trap surrounding the area now that it was too late. He spun around to glower at the leviathan. "You tricked us!" Not that he should have been surprised. He just hadn't realized there had been enough time since he and Dean had gotten there for anything to set a trap for them

"Mother's got a beef with you," the leviathan told him.

Castiel frowned for a second, unsure of who the leviathan was talking about, and then his eyes widened with understanding. "Eve," he spat.

Dean's eyebrows shot up and he went suddenly pale.

"Killing her alphas, swallowing her leviathan," the monster continued. "She offered us a nice reward for whoever found you."

"What do you mean, 'us'?" Dean demanded.

Castiel caught movement out of the corner of his eye. "Dean!" he called in warning.

Another leviathan was advancing on Dean from behind. He spun and tried to hit it with his gun, but the leviathan grabbed the barrel and they wrestled with it.

Castiel fought against the hold the trap had on him to no avail. He was completely helpless to move to his companion's aid.

But Dean got the upper hand and kicked the leviathan away and shot him with one of the borax bullets.

However, another one appeared and tackled Dean to the ground. Dean lost his gun and fought, but the leviathan got him up on his knees, one arm bent painfully behind him and a hand gripped in Dean's hair, yanking his head back to expose his neck.

The leviathan who had been their guide turned to Cas with a smirk. "Say goodbye to your friend, halo."

The leviathan holding Dean smirked before exposing its horrible mouth, opening wide to tear Dean's throat out.

"Wait!" Castiel shouted frantically. "Don't! It's me you want. Leave Dean and take me."

"Cas!" Dean shouted, then winced as the leviathan's teeth grazed his throat.

"I'll give myself up willingly," Castiel nearly pleaded. "Just, please, let Dean go."

The leviathan seemed to consider this, looking between the angel and the hunter, but finally he nodded.

The other leviathan closed his mouth reluctantly, but Castiel slumped in relief.

"Cas, don't do this," Dean said.

Castiel looked at him but didn't say anything. The leviathan stepped forward and grabbed his arms, tying them roughly in front of him.

"Looks like it's your lucky day, Winchester."

The other leviathan released Dean, but before the hunter could make a move, he slammed the butt of Dean's gun into the back of his head. Dean crashed to the ground, unconscious, but Castiel was almost glad. He wouldn't be able to follow them then. And when he woke up, he hopefully would have the sense to take one of the leviathan blossoms and run back to the rift before their time was up.

"Oh, I almost forgot," the leviathan holding Castiel said, and turned around to rifle through Dean's pockets.

"What are you doing?" Castiel demanded.

The leviathan smirked and pulled out a lighter. He turned back to the leviathan blossoms and flicked it, lighting the flame.

"No!" Castiel cried as the leviathan dropped the lighter. One of the blossoms caught flame and the rest burned quickly as the fire spread. Castiel watched in horror, hope flooding away as the ugly flowers shriveled and burned.

"Come on, Mother's waiting for you." The leviathan yanked Castiel forward as his partner cut through the angel trap so Castiel could get out. "She's going to be so happy to see you."

Castiel glanced down at Dean's unconscious form as he was dragged away. He had no idea what they were going to do now.

They traveled for a while through the woods, Castiel glancing around, looking for any opportunity to escape, but he was hemmed in on both sides and he wanted to get far enough away to give Dean enough time to wake up, so if he did manage to find an opportunity to escape, the leviathans couldn't just go back and grab the hunter in revenge.

It seemed that every trip to Purgatory was to end this way. The two of them separated, not knowing if the other was going to survive.

This time, though, Castiel was not so determined to give up. He still had some fight left and if he got the chance he was going to make that known.

But it seemed like it was already too late. They had made it to a cave and they ducked inside the darkness, hauling Castiel with them.

There was firelight flickering in the back and as they approached, Castiel felt the dampening of his grace again, just like when they had confronted Eve all those years ago.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our old friend, Castiel."

Castiel was shoved roughly to his knees and he looked up as a woman wearing a white dress rose from a comfortable looking throne situated at the back of the cave and stepped toward them.

"Eve," Castiel growled.

She smiled and reached down to cup his chin, raising his face. Her fingernails were clawed and they dug sharply into his cheeks. "You haven't aged well, darling. You are looking quite a bit less powerful than the last time I saw you. Though, that never really mattered around me, did it? I know how angels tick, how to power them down. How to make them helpless." She smirked and her face morphed suddenly into something eldritch and terrible as she leaned in close to Castiel and pressed her lips to his ear. "I've been waiting a long time for the chance to see you again, angel."

She pulled back and nodded to her lackeys. "String him up. I'm going to have my fun, and he's going to be very, very sorry for all of my children he has killed. Aren't you, Castiel?"

Castiel glowered. "Bite me."

The leviathans hauled him up and secured his bound hands to a meat hook hanging from the ceiling. Castiel was suspended, toes barely scraping the floor.

Eve smiled again, just as unpleasantly as the last time as she slowly loosened Castiel's tie, letting it fall to the floor before she yanked his shirt open. "Oh, I'll bite, don't worry. I'll do that and so much more. But first I want to hear you scream."

She thrust her hand toward him and her nails buried themselves in his belly, twisting. Castiel gave a strangled cry, trying to wriggle away, but finding himself unable to move.

"You like this? There's a lot more where this came from," she snarled as she dug deeper, twining her fingers in his guts. "I'll tear what's left of your grace out with my own hands before I'm done with you."

All Castiel could do was try to focus on anything but the agony as he wondered if Dean had gotten out of Purgatory yet.

_~~~~~~~_

_Dean woke slowly_ , head aching as he tried to remember what had happened.

He blinked his eyes blearily, smelling smoke. What…

And then he remembered exactly what had happened.

He sat up with a groan, grabbing the back of his head as pain split through his skull. He scrambled for the shotgun a few feet away and looked around. The first thing he saw was the smoldering remains of the leviathan blossoms.

"No," he breathed, then made it to his knees, looking around the clearing, and realizing he was alone. Terror caused his heart to sink and his stomach to clench.

"Cas!" he called. "Cas!"

But the angel wasn't there and nor were the leviathans. He pushed himself to his feet, staggering slightly as dizziness overcame him. He kept his feet though and looked around for any sign of where the leviathans had taken Cas.

He remembered them mentioning Eve, Cas giving himself up for Dean, probably hoping that he would wake up, grab the levi blossom and make a run for it.

That idiot.

Dean staggered back into the woods, trying to force himself to breathe slowly and think, but he was having a hard time of it. He had been such an idiot. How could he have let Cas do that?

Especially knowing he still hadn't apologized to the angel. To his best friend. What the hell was wrong with him? If he lost Cas again…

Dean stopped and braced himself against a tree as he fought to get his breathing under control, swallowing back nausea. He closed his eyes briefly and steadied himself. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and looked at the timer.

Half an hour left before the rift closed.

"Cas!" he practically screamed as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and forced himself into a run.

It wasn't long before he had to slow to a walk, remembering that he was trying to track Cas and the levis and that running willy-nilly around Purgatory was a good way to waste time.

He picked up a trail finally, and hoped it was the one he was looking for.

As he walked, his mind played over all the times he had snubbed Cas an apology over the last couple months. How Cas had left, walked out. Dean closed his eyes as he remembered what Cas had said only hours ago.

_"You didn't give me a choice. I left but you didn't stop me."_

Dean shook his head, fury building inside him. Why was he always so stupid? Why was he always so angry? It was always his fault when he drove Sam and Cas away. This wasn't the first time, but it needed to be the last. They couldn't afford to be at odds now. They were the only ones they could trust, and Dean had, as usual, just been a complete idiot.

But more than that, he just wanted his best friend back.

When it came down to it, it wasn't that it was the end of the world—again. It wasn't that their army was shrinking and their list of people they could count on was becoming smaller; it was that they were all each other had. They were family. It had nearly destroyed Dean to lose Mom again, after everything, but he would be no better off if he lost Cas again either. He didn't think he could stand to lose another person, especially now. They needed to be there for each other, to hold each other up when they couldn't stand on their own.

And Dean realized it didn't matter. The levi blossom, the cage, it didn't matter if they did that today, or scrapped the plan and found something else. They hadn't won the apocalypse by doing what other people told them to, they'd always done better if it was just them, the last line of defense between the world and whatever was trying to destroy it. Dean was certain of one thing and one thing only at that moment. That he was going to find Cas and bring him home.

"Cas," he prayed as he strode through the woods, following the trail he hoped belong to his friend and the leviathans. "I hope you can hear me. I want you to know that I made a mistake before. What else is new? You know I'm an idiot, and that when I get angry everything flies out the window. But I forgive you, man, I do. You're my best friend, my brother. Nothing's gonna change that. And I sure as hell am not gonna let you walk away from me again. You hear me? I'm stopping you this time, Cas. This is me stopping you."

He pressed his lips together, swallowing the lump in his throat. He just hoped that there was still enough of his friend to stop from leaving by the time he got there.

He glanced at his phone again. Fifteen minutes left. He had to work fast.

And then he heard it—a scream of pain; one that sounded all too familiar.

"Cas," Dean breathed. "Hold on, buddy. Just hold on."

He ran through the forest, heading to a rocky structure that turned out to be a cave. Screams were echoing from inside, and Dean cocked his gun, ready, but then realized that if Eve was in there, there was no way he could run in and expect to get him and Cas both out alive.

He would need a plan. He took the pack from over his shoulder and started to figure out one.

_~~~~~~~~_

_Castiel slumped, panting_ in his bonds. Blood slicked down his chest from the deep claw marks Eve had made there.

But he was still alive, and he was going to stay alive.

He'd heard Dean's prayer, he knew the elder Winchester was coming for him. He had no idea if Dean would find him in time, and he almost wished his friend was not walking into an obvious trap, but there was nothing he could do about it. And honestly, it felt nice to know someone was coming. He'd known Dean cared, he always had, but sometimes he just wished he did more to show it. Perhaps that was selfish, but that was what he had understood friendship and family to be. And perhaps the apology was a bit of an eleventh-hour thing, but Castiel would take it. That was just how Dean was. It didn't make it any less genuine.

But it all depended on whether he survived long enough for Dean to find him.

Eve stood in front of him, looking him over as if trying to decide what to do next, as she licked his blood from her fingers, wrinkling her nose.

"Angels always did have a certain cleanliness to them which isn't entirely pleasant. In reality you're really just another brand of monster but without the creativity. My children are so much more diverse. More beautiful."

Castiel groaned as he raised his head, fighting to keep it up. He was really feeling the pain and the blood loss without access to his grace.

She grabbed his chin to keep his head up for him. "Pathetic, really. Such a fragile thing, so powerless in my presence." She slid her fingers down his throat and Castiel shuddered as she stopped right above his heart. "You bleed just like everything else."

Castiel's eyes flew open as she started to force her clawed fingers into his chest, around his heart. Fresh blood flowed from the wounds and agony tore through him, his pulse quickening as he let out a strangled scream; her fingers got closer and closer to his beating heart…

Something exploded outside the cave and Eve whipped around, yanking her hand out of Castiel's flesh. He sagged with a gasp, relieved at the reprieve for a couple seconds before he wondered what had caused the sound.

"Go!" Eve snapped at the leviathans. "Go see what that was!"

But Castiel already knew.

The leviathans hurried out of the cave and Castiel waited with bated breath to see what would happen.

Eve turned to him with a smirk. "If that's your Winchester friend come to call, I'd love to get reacquainted with him as well. He was the one who forced me to swallow phoenix ash, after all. I'd love to make him swallow something that will make his insides burn."

Castiel simply glowered at her, saving his breath.

A gunshot rang out and then another, followed by screams of agony. Eve's face darkened, and she slapped Castiel, raking her claws across his cheek as she turned and strode toward the cave entrance.

Castiel watched her with bated breath, yanking at his ropes, praying that Dean had a good enough plan not to get caught.

Another explosion sounded and a huge crack followed by something extremely heavy hitting the ground. Castiel heard Eve's furious scream and struggled even more desperately, wondering what was going on.

"Cas!"

Castiel glanced up as Dean rushed into the cave from the opposite side. Castiel hadn't realized there was another way in, but it appeared it was his lucky day.

"Dean," he breathed in relief at both the rescue and at seeing his friend alive.

"God, Cas," Dean muttered as he hurried to the angel's side, flipping a knife from his pocket and reaching up to saw through the ropes holding Castiel. The angel collapsed, but Dean caught him, staggering slightly before turning the support into a fervent embrace. Castiel sank against him, relief and pain causing him to sag. He rested his head against Dean's shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief. Dean squeezed him a little tighter and though it hurt, Castiel didn't really care at the moment.

"Come on," Dean said finally, pulling back. "We gotta get out of here, we only have a few minutes to get back to the rift." He glanced worriedly at the blood staining Castiel's chest. "Think you can make it?"

"I'll have to," Castiel grunted. He buttoned his shirt haphazardly, and Dean handed him his tie and angel blade which had been tossed to the side. Castiel gripped the blade as feeling came back to his hands, and stuffed the tie in his pocket. Dean wrapped his arm over his shoulders and hurried them both out the secret passage.

"We're not far from the rift," Castiel said. "But I don't know how many other monsters might be hanging around."

"It's fine, we'll get there," Dean said.

"Dean," Castiel panted, trying to keep up, but finding his legs mostly slipping. "I'm sorry we weren't able to get the blossom. I thought they would ignore it, but…"

"Don't worry about it, Cas, it wasn't your fault. I know you were just trying to keep me safe. As idiotic a plan as that was, I'm grateful." Dean sighed and glanced to the side. "Look, I need to tell you something…"

"You don't have to say anything, Dean. I heard your prayer," Castiel told him, knowing how hard it was for Dean to share his feelings.

"Yeah, well, I still want to say it to you in person," Dean said. "You deserve that. I accept your apology, I forgive you. And I'm sorry."

Castiel huffed. "I forgive you too, Dean. Thank you for coming for me. Though," he winced as he stepped wrong and jostled his wounds. "You could have tried a little harder to stop me in the first place."

"Shut up," Dean huffed back.

"Wait, Dean!"

Castiel suddenly stumbled to a halt and nearly collapsed as Dean continued forward, the hunter his only support right now.

"What?" Dean demanded, raising his gun.

"Look."

Dean turned to see where Castiel was pointing.

Half hidden under a bush was a gory red flower. Dean stopped with a sharp inhalation.

"A leviathan blossom," he breathed.

He propped Castiel against a tree and quickly plucked the flower from the ground.

Rustling in the underbrush alerted Castiel that they had company.

"Dean," he grunted, pushing himself upright and gritting his teeth.

"Got it, let's go," Dean said and grabbed him under the arm, hurrying both of them toward the rift which they could now see ahead of them.

"Hey!"

The shout behind them forced them into a run, Castiel pushing his injured body to its limits. The rift was fading, they were nearly out of time.

"Jump!" Dean shouted.

He and Castiel launched forward and lunged through the rift just as several leviathans appeared through the trees.

_~~~~~~~_

_Dean hit the floor_ in the bunker and just lay there for a moment as the sounds of the leviathans' pursuit and the perpetual, dim chill of Purgatory faded.

A groan next to him brought him back around and he pushed himself up and turned to Cas who was lying on the floor, eyes closed and face creased in pain as blood smeared under him.

Dean carefully placed the leviathan blossom on the nearby table and then bent to roll Cas onto his back.

"Come on, buddy," he murmured. "Just get on your feet one more time."

Cas grunted and tried to help as Dean heaved him upright.

"I'm fine," he murmured. "We have to do the spell…"

"It can wait," Dean told him firmly, fully seeing the extent of Cas' wounds now that they weren't running for their lives and felt sick at the sight of all the blood. "Let's get you patched up first."

Cas grunted in protest, but didn't seem to have the energy to argue as Dean helped him down the hall to the infirmary.

He lowered the angel down on the cot and went to look for supplies. He took off his filthy jacket and rolled his sleeves up, washing his hands before grabbing bandages and whatever else he would need.

As he turned back around with a tray of stuff he set on a cart, Cas was struggling to get out of his coat.

Dean hurried back and helped him the rest of the way out of the trench coat then tackled his suit jacket and shirt, both of which were soaked in blood. Dean swallowed down nausea as he saw what looked like ragged puncture wounds and claw marks all over Cas' torso, some still bleeding sluggishly.

"Why don't you lie back," Dean suggested.

Cas slumped on the cot almost gratefully and closed his eyes as Dean began to clean his wounds, wincing and making small sounds of protest every once in a while. Dean pressed his lips into a thin line as he swabbed some nasty puncture wounds in Cas' stomach, hoping nothing was damaged too badly inside.

"Look, Cas, for the record," Dean said, still feeling like he needed to get something off his chest. "I didn't stop you from leaving because I thought that if we both had some time to cool off—if _I_ had some time to cool off—then I might be able to make more sense of what I was feeling. But with everything else, it didn't really help, and I'm sorry I've been giving you the cold shoulder this whole time."

Cas huffed. "I did leave by my own volition, Dean. I'm not sure there was anything you could have said in that moment that would have stopped me. I was angry too."

"And you had every right to be," Dean said quietly as he taped some gauze over the wound and moved to the next one.

Cas looked up at him. "We both had the chance to make it right then and didn't take it."

"This isn't on you," Dean told him firmly. "Seriously, man, it's not. And I feel terrible for ever blaming you, it's just…"

"You were angry, and sad," Cas said softly. "So was I. For Mary and…for Jack."

Dean had to turn away to mess with the bandages for a moment before he could allow Cas to see his face again. "Look, man, I really am sorry about Jack. I loved the kid too, you know that." Cas looked up at him sadly. "I never should have handled that situation the way I did, Sam and I should have waited for you. And it's not your fault for not telling us, in fact, all of this, what happened to Jack—that's all on Chuck. All of it. Who knows how much of a hand he had in manipulating him? I'm beginning to think all of that at the end might have been less Jack and more Chuck wanting him to play whatever role he had slotted for him."

Cas sighed then winced as Dean dabbed at the holes in his chest. "I think you're right. We're in a difficult position right now, and I don't think any of us know where we stand anymore."

"I do," Dean told him firmly as he straightened up. "We stand right here, Cas. Together. Team Free Will. Just like we always have. It's come down to who do we trust time, and we know the answer to that one. The same as it's always been."

Cas met his eyes and gave a small nod. "We trust us."

"Exactly," Dean said. He finished taping gauze over Cas' wounds then simply sat there on the side of the cot. "And we have a plan. And if that doesn't work, we'll find another one. We beat the apocalypse the first time, we beat Amara, we can beat Chuck now too. And if we go out, we do that together."

"Agreed," Cas said.

Dean offered a small smile and squeezed Cas' shoulder gently before standing up. "I'll get you some clean clothes," he said as he grabbed the tray of stuff and started to clean up.

And despite everything that was happening around them, he had suddenly found his own calm. He would just take it one day at a time like they always had and whatever came they would deal with it.

That's just what they did and nothing was ever going to change that.


End file.
